The Russian military has come under increasing criticism after an attack that killed many Russian soldiers. But for now, President Putin manages to emerge from this battle unscathed. “More often he shrugs off responsibility for important decisions.”
Russia has acknowledged that dozens of soldiers were killed in the Ukrainian attack on a barracks in Makiivka. Next to the barracks was an ammunition depot next door. According to the Russians, the reason why the ammunition depot was tracked down and attacked is due to the excessive use of the telephone by the Russian troops.
Condominium
As a result of the attack, a storm of criticism arose against the command of the Russian army. Both from politicians and pro-Russian bloggers. But for now everything is slipping away from Putin. “We get signals of criticism through channels like Telegram about the leadership of the military,” says Dick Berlin, former chief of the armed forces. ‘This makes the army command a kind of lightning distraction from Putin, the unrest among the people is aimed at them. As a result, a number of generals are fired, and sometimes someone falls off an apartment building. This is Putin’s way of working.
Substantive criticism of the army leadership is justified, thinks Berlin. “In the specific case, young soldiers and recruits were placed in a building adjacent to an ammunition depot. It’s wrong and you shouldn’t do it as a general.” The soldiers allegedly used their own phones, which are easily traceable, Berlin says. ‘The operational safety is trampled, the means of communication of the soldiers are poor, which makes it easy to trace the location of the soldiers.’
According to Berlin, a lot has to do with the Russian military’s “culture of fear and rot”. You don’t bring up bad news because it can cost you your head and if you are faced with bad decisions, you act against your better judgment.’
Duma wants an investigation
The growing criticisms also come from the Duma, the Russian parliament. On the one hand there is a call for revenge, but there is also a call for an investigation into the Makiivka incident. “But that investigation is still directed at the army command and not at the tsar in the Kremlin. Putin remains unaffected.”
According to Berlin, the situation on the battlefield is important to the course of the war, but so is the political leader’s internal power base. “Whether it concerns the Führer in the past during the Second World War or Putin’s position now. This is actually much more important. Putin is very sensitive to his power base, he doesn’t care about sanctions or the large number of dead and wounded on the battlefield, but he is concerned about the large protests of the civilian population in the streets.
New mobilization?
Ukrainian President Zelensky said Russia will begin a new round of mobilization. A realistic scenario that Putin will handle with caution, thinks Berlin. “He knows that the Russian people will not be happy with this. Now you also see that Putin’s rhetoric is changing. In the beginning the story was that the Nazis were to be kicked out of the Ukraine, now he says Russia has been attacked by the West, trying to build support for more mobilisation.’
Follow the latest developments in Ukraine here in our live blog
Source: BNR
Sharon Rock is an author and journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. She has a passion for learning about different cultures and understanding the complexities of the world. With a talent for explaining complex global issues in an accessible and engaging way, Sharon has become a respected voice in the field of world news journalism.
